PROVIDENCE – Nortek Inc. reported net income of $4.7 million, or 30 cents per diluted share, during the third quarter of 2012, compared with a net loss of $2.1 million, or 14 cents per diluted share a year earlier, the company announced late Thursday. The results followed profit of $18.5 million in its second quarter.

The residential and commercial ventilation maker saw a 1 percent increase in sales from $551.8 million during the third quarter of 2011 to $557.4 million in the third quarter of 2012.

“Nortek continued to perform well in the third quarter despite mixed conditions in our end markets,” said Nortek President and CEO Michael J. Clarke in a statement.

Clarke attributed the company’s year-over-year improvement to the restructuring of the European range hood business in Nortek’s residential ventilation segment as well as improved sales in residential ventilation and residential heating and cooling segments. “In addition, our results this quarter reflected a more favorable overall pricing and product mix,” said Clarke.

During the three months ended Sept. 29, Nortek’s gross margin increased to 28.4 percent from 25.8 percent during the same quarter in 2011.

The company’s selling general and administrative expense decreased by $3.5 million to $113.6 million over the quarter.

Nortek’s operating earnings more than doubled to $33.8 million from $14 million in the third quarter of 2011.

“Our plan for making further progress in this challenging end-market environment is to continue to focus on effectively managing all the areas of our business,” said Clarke. “In addition to closely managing expenses and cash flow, and improving efficiencies, we expect to continue reinvesting in our business to drive top-line growth and deliver service excellence to our customers. This will position us to deliver solid performance as our end markets improve.”

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